The decision to buy GeForce 3D Vision.

The GeForce 3D Vision system requires 3 pieces of hardware to work its magic. The first piece of hardware has been available longer than 3 months and as a result, most people interested in 3D Vision should already have it. I am referring to a Nvidia video card. Not just any card though. 3D Vision requires an 8800 GT, 9600 GT or better according to Nvidia's 3D Vision requirements.

The second piece of the puzzle is the 3D Vision Kit which is really the heart of the 3D Vision system. This is the product that Nvidia put their 3D research and development. The 3D Vision Kit includes the following:

The glasses look nice and I think they were very comfortable even without the included nose pieces. The power button and the mini USB connection are located on the left side. This is pretty important because if your glasses lose power while you are playing, you can just plug the glasses in while you are wearing them. The only qualm I have about the 3D Vision Kit is that I can't tell if the emitter and glasses are on or off. When you turn the glasses on the little green light on the power button lights up and then turns off after a few seconds. Touching the button again has the same effect. It would be nice if the light turned red so that I know the glasses are turning off. The emitter has one button on the front and the green light on the back is supposed to be brighter when it is on. I never noticed a brightness difference when turning the emitter on or off.

While it is possible that perspective 3D Vision buyers might already own the third and final piece of hardware, it is also unlikely. I am talking about a display that can operate at over 100Hz. Nvidia lists a total of 18 displays, 14 of which are Mitsubishi 1080p DLP Home Theater TVs. According to this page some of these Mitsubishi TVs have been available since 2007, but for those of us without the space (and money) for a 60" or larger HDTV in their PC room, the 22" Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ and the 22" ViewSonic FuHzion VX2265wm may be a better choice. The Samsung monitor is the display that Nvidia chose to package in their 3D Vision Bundle.

The Samsung's picture quality is brighter and more vibrant than my current 204B and it has a nice shiny black gloss. However, there are a few things that this monitor lacks. The stand for this monitor is just that. A stand. You can see the piece that connects the monitor to the base in the third picture on this page on the left had side. It only allows the monitor to be titled up and down. The monitor can't be flipped into a portrait orientation and it can't be moved higher or lower from the monitor base. The monitor also comes with only one (DL-DVI) display connection.